Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,054
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
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Magnets & Copper Wire: A Pickup Building Thread
- Thread starter Freekmagnet
- Start date
DIY Gauss Meter page should now be live here: DIY Gauss Meter | TalkBass.com
Let me know if anyone has any questions.
Let me know if anyone has any questions.
Thanks. Chris is our programmer, so I'll get him to make one for us. I'll let you know how it goes.
slowburnaz
Commercial User
Finished this multicoil up today and slapped it into the beater/testbed SBMM Ray 4...
I got the new flatwork from ponoko. I tried some in the thicker fiberboard, just to see what it's like. Its REALLY thick if you're used to using .06" fiberboard!
I also got some made in the bamboo plywood material. It's really nice. Stiff enough to not flare like crazy. Glues nicely to slugs/blades (probably takes CA better than fiberboard). It holds up to having eyelets pressed and soldered into it. And it's super cheap!
It also looks good. I may make some guitar pickups where the top flatwork is partially exposed using this material.
I also got some made in the bamboo plywood material. It's really nice. Stiff enough to not flare like crazy. Glues nicely to slugs/blades (probably takes CA better than fiberboard). It holds up to having eyelets pressed and soldered into it. And it's super cheap!
It also looks good. I may make some guitar pickups where the top flatwork is partially exposed using this material.
I've created a new thread called Hypothetical Luthiery where we can discuss that and similar things.
I just moved all the bamboo relevant posts to the thread noted here.
Can we get a virtual hand for @Joshua ? 
Tirelessly and I suspect often thanklessly working to keep things smooth.
A very big part of why this place is as awesome as it is.
Tirelessly and I suspect often thanklessly working to keep things smooth.
A very big part of why this place is as awesome as it is.
How much does a Wal pup contribute to their unique sound? Or is it entirely the preamp design?
Could they use a typical humbucker and you wouldn't know the difference because of the preamp? Or does the 8 individual coils design shape the signal in some way?
Could they use a typical humbucker and you wouldn't know the difference because of the preamp? Or does the 8 individual coils design shape the signal in some way?
The sound of a Wal bass is the product of three things:
- A carefully built wood structure, tuned to work with the string vibration
- A special pickup with 2 small coils per string
- A complex filter network built into a special preamp.
I assumed as much. I'm learning that unique sounding instruments are definitely a result of all their details combined.
I guess a better way to ask the question is, what's the biggest audible difference between having an individual coil for each pole and a standard humbucker setup?
So, if all else is the same on a bass, what would you notice if you replaced a typical double coil with one of those 8 coil pups?
Or is it one of those situations where you have to dial it in with a specially built preamp to take advantage of the differences?
If you replaced the stock pup in a stingray with a Wal style pup, would you notice a clear difference with only changing the pup?
slowburnaz
Commercial User
I can only offer my two cents on the last scenario...
I have an SBMM Ray 4 that I've been swapping my pickups in and out of, and all I can say is that I have no definitive answer. ;-) The closest I can get to an apples-to-apples comparison is if I replace the stock pickup with a multicoil that has 4 coils in each "column" wired in series, and each "column" wired in parallel. I've done that using a John East MM-style 2 band preamp, and while it's hard to discern through the inherent pre-shaping that the preamp does (it still has that MM high end bite), I think the end result of the multicoil being in there is that I hear a darker tone, while still having a lot of clarity... if that makes any sense. It's not a wooly darkness. Maybe it's an increase in low mids I'm hearing. I chalk that up to the higher wind count on the coils while having less self capacitance due to the size of the coils themselves.
Then again, I use steel keepers and a brass baseplate in my more recent multicoils, whereas the MM pickups don't have that, so that's gonna have an influence too, for sure.
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That's kinda what I was wondering. Not so much about a stingray in particular (that was just the example that popped in my head).
It seems that if people are looking for a certain baseline for a sound, warm and wooly, or bright and punchy, or I've heard people say "hi-fi", etc, there seems to be a specific pup style that you would go with, to get your starting point for the sound you're chasing.
So, I was wondering if there was a specific difference or reason for starting with an 8 coil pup. As in: you want "this" sound, you wanna start with an 8 coil and then spice to taste with preamp and tone control. Or, you wanna use an 8 coil in the bridge position, because you'll get that "x" factor that you won't get with a typical humbucker in that spot, etc.
Or, is there not much of a difference other than being 8 coils and any difference will be in the wire gauge, wraps, how it's wired, etc, like any other pup?
I'm intrigued by this design and wondering if there's things you can achieve with this design that you can't with other pups, or if it's just a different way to achieve basically the same result.
It seems that if people are looking for a certain baseline for a sound, warm and wooly, or bright and punchy, or I've heard people say "hi-fi", etc, there seems to be a specific pup style that you would go with, to get your starting point for the sound you're chasing.
So, I was wondering if there was a specific difference or reason for starting with an 8 coil pup. As in: you want "this" sound, you wanna start with an 8 coil and then spice to taste with preamp and tone control. Or, you wanna use an 8 coil in the bridge position, because you'll get that "x" factor that you won't get with a typical humbucker in that spot, etc.
Or, is there not much of a difference other than being 8 coils and any difference will be in the wire gauge, wraps, how it's wired, etc, like any other pup?
I'm intrigued by this design and wondering if there's things you can achieve with this design that you can't with other pups, or if it's just a different way to achieve basically the same result.
slowburnaz
Commercial User
I'd think the biggest difference (well, most obvious maybe?) would be that with at least one coil per string, you can theoretically get a separate output that only senses that one string (mostly that one string, anyway). Wal certainly leverages that in their preamp. But I don't think that was the main reason for them going with 8 coils, since they used 8 coil pickups in their basses before their preamp was developed (the Pro-series basses).
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I agree with Chris (slowburnaz), above. I done some work with multi-coil pickups, although a little different from the Wal configuration. My overall conclusion is that multi-coil, by itself, doesn't really gain you anything. If all the other parameters are the same, two coils or eight coils doesn't matter. There doesn't seem to be any real benefit to the sound from having a separate pickup for each string.
But there are other reasons to want a multi-coil. Wal wants separate feeds from each string to go into their complex filter network/preamp. In my case, I'm fitting a pickup to a very round 4" fingerboard radius bass. I needed the separate coils to efficiently reach the strings.
You may have other reasons. But, whether two coils or eight coils, you still need to design the magnetic field and coil geometry to get the sound profile you want. And with a multi-coil, you are more restricted by physical space.
But there are other reasons to want a multi-coil. Wal wants separate feeds from each string to go into their complex filter network/preamp. In my case, I'm fitting a pickup to a very round 4" fingerboard radius bass. I needed the separate coils to efficiently reach the strings.
You may have other reasons. But, whether two coils or eight coils, you still need to design the magnetic field and coil geometry to get the sound profile you want. And with a multi-coil, you are more restricted by physical space.
